Many animals, particularly dogs, have the undesirable habit of digging holes in grassed areas and flower beds and with some domestic animals it is extremely difficult to train the animal not to engage in such practice, even for experienced animal trainers. The repair of these damaged areas is frequently useless because the habitually digging animal returns to the same spot to dig again.
Furthermore, these repaired areas are also subject to damage from foot traffic of animals as well as humans. There have in the past been attempts to support turf in high traffic areas with a rectangular frame such as shown in the Partin U.S. Pat. No. 2,899,775. The Partin device must be installed prior to the original lawn building process since it is mounted significantly beneath the upper surface of the soil and serves no function whatsoever of inhibiting animal digging. A circular link mat for the purpose of protecting plants from animal intrusion is shown in the Erickson U.S. Pat. No. 3,055,143. The mat consists of circular links with sharp upwardly-projecting barbs that are intended to impale the animal's feet and thereby discourage traverse by the animal toward an adjacent area of plants. However, the Erickson device is undesirable because it physically and inhumanely injures the animal and also, because of its flexible construction it does not support the soil or turf.
It is the primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in protecting turf and soil during repair.